His Kid, Growing Up
by Neverland Funhouse
Summary: Sequel to "His Kid". No one knows, only his close friends do, she is his most precious secret and for her own good it'll stay that way. He'll raise her without anyone breathing down their necks, waiting for something to go wrong and nothing will, he won't let it. Snippets of Darcy growing up. Iron Man (1,2), Thor and Avengers versed. Pairings: Pepper/Tony and slight Jane/Thor.


**Disclaimer: **The Avengers/Thor/Iron Man characters and stories all belong to Marvel, who I thank for the fantastic characters they created. This story is a sequel of "_His Kid_", though you don't actually have to read it to understand this one. Enjoy!

* * *

He remembers when Darcy took her very first steps, they were on his shop; he was once again working on one of his cars and his kid was laying on a blanket playing with a rubber screwdriver, he was talking to her telling her everything she needed to know about fixing a car, when he hears JARVIS' British-metallic voice calling him, telling him there was something he should see, and so Tony does, he gets out of the bottom of the car and sees his daughter trying to get up.

"Tell Pepper to get down here!" He says with urgency to JARVIS who transmits the message to Pepper. He keeps watching Darcy trying to get up, her little brows furrowed in concentration, the little screwdriver tight in her little hand, he hears the soft sound of Pepper's shoes, but he doesn't look away, he is afraid of taking his eyes of her and she suddenly take her first step without him seeing it – even if JARVIS is probably already recording it he wants to see it live.

"Oh my!" Pepper gushes when she sees Darcy on her feet, she closes the door behind her and walks quietly over to where Tony is "She's going to do it, Tony!" Pepper says putting her hand on his arm, trying to control her excitement. Darcy noticing her parents looks at them and gives them a toothless smile, making their hearts melt.

"C'mon kid, you can do it!" Tony says in encouragement, Darcy seems to understand when she puts her little right foot in front of her and then her left foot, she wobbles a bit but does it again, until she is close to her father, she tries to go a bit further but she falls and her dad is right there to catch her "Amazing, Darce!" He says and kisses the top of her head making her giggle.

Pepper comes and takes Darcy from Tony's arm, ignoring his pout "In no time you'll be running, hm? Darcy, you're growing up too fast!"

"Pep, it seems like we are sending her to college already" He makes a sour face "I don't like the sound of that" He looks to his daughter's blue eyes "You are sentenced to live forever under my roof, never going to school or college or anything, got it kid?" She reaches her small hand to him giggling.

"Your dad is crazy, Darcy, tell him 'Dad you're crazy'" Pep says kissing her cheek, Tony holds the hand Darcy outstretched to him.

"It is done, she shook my hand, and there is no getting out of it. JARVIS has it all on tape and a gentleman handshake cannot be broken!" Tony says dramatically getting Darcy to giggle again.

"Oh, Tony, stop it" Pepper says whilst rolling her eyes.

* * *

_7 years old _

Darcy Stark inherited her brains from her grandfather and father after all, Tony was already teaching her advanced math behind Pepper's back, it was not his fault his daughter had hunger for knowledge, he only wanted to help her satisfy herself, other than math he teaches her robotic engineering, mechanics, physics and chemistry letting JARVIS teach Darcy English, literature, history and geography.

Pepper and Tony had decided to have Darcy homeschooled, after all, which school was prepared to give Darcy Stark all the knowledge she needed it if not for the AI and Tony. To satisfy Darcy's social side – not that she showed that she wanted contact with kids her own age, but Pepper thought it was important – Happy and sometimes Rhodey would take her to places with lots of kids for her to interact.

The day he told Rhodey that he has a kid, was one of Tony's favorite moments of Rhodey, his friend was drinking beer when he came out and said that he had a little girl of about three months, Rhodey sputters the drink all over and coughs afterwards loosing for those precious seconds all the cool poise the military had put on him, Tony couldn't stop laughing.

"_I mean, you should see your face! Well, actually you can see your face, JARVIS show us -" But before Tony can continue Rhodey interrupts him._

"_Hold on, Tony" He says raising a hand to stop the other man from continuing talking "_You_ have a daughter?"_

"_I don't appreciate the emphasis on the 'you', Rhodey" Tony says rolling his eyes, would everyone always put emphasis on him having a child? Just because he didn't take care much after himself didn't mean that he couldn't look after and be there for someone else, especially when that person is Darcy. In his defense the company after his father's death didn't explode or went bankrupt when he took control, it was making even more profit than it previously was, if it had Pepper's hand on it or not, well, it was he who had hired her in the first place._

"_You have to understand Tony, you just took control of the company and that is a lot of responsibility and you weren't always, uhm, a prime example. To add to that you have a kid, that's a lot, man" Rhodey says, wincing when he knows he wasn't very clear but hoping that his friend understands, he was never very good at telling other what he thought – if it was military issues, he excels at that._

_Tony sighs "I know" He wants to tell his friend how Darcy is not another responsibility to him, she comes first in everything. But he is Tony Stark and he doesn't talk about his feelings with anyone, the emotional wall he built is there for something. "But then it's not" He says quietly to himself and Rhodey pretends not to hear, he knows Tony and talking about sentimental stuff is never something the Stark would do, but he understands, he could see the moment Tony said he has a kid the way his eyes took that glint that he normally only had when he finished something amazing, like the AI._

"_What's the kid's name?" Rhodey asks hoping it would brighten up the mood again._

"_Darcy" Tony says in a breath, in a few minutes Pepper and Darcy will be back from walking on the beach, the very private one he bought so his daughter could have somewhere safe from the public eye to enjoy it with him and Pepper._

"_Darcy Stark, I like the tone of that" Rhodey says gulping a bit of his beer._

"_She has an alias, though" When his friends brows shots up he continues to explain "I want her to have a quiet life, away from the public eye, so she can make her mistakes without everyone breathing down her neck" _Or if I mess up I can do it without anyone breathing down_ my _neck.

_Rhodey nods, understanding where Tony was coming from, he knows what he had been through when he was growing up, it was hard. Even though he had everything any other boy could hope for, it never matter to him all he wanted was the attention of Howard Stark, so he drank and made a fool of himself to try and gain the attention, but it was all done on the public eye and he was marked like cattle for it, always the playboy genius, nothing he did changed his image. One day, Tony had said he had thrown the towel if people wanted to see him like that, then he'd make the best of it._

_The young military sighs and then smiles "I want to meet her. God knows she'll be a firecracker when she grows up"_

_Tony smiles crookedly "Well, I don't know about that, I'll make her promise me not to grow up" Rhodey laughs at the ridiculousness of Tony._

"Dad, I don't think it'll work" Darcy whines while looking at motherboard of her-soon-to-be-robot, Tony leaves the blue prints he is working on and walks over to her, sees the blue prints that he had helped her draw - knowing that all the math was correct as well as the design - he looks at the motherboard and doesn't see anything wrong with it.

"Why'd you say that? Everything looks perfect to me" Darcy frowns and looks at a patch on it pointing to her father.

"_That,_ isn't right" Darcy points to a certain part of her robot.

He chuckles "It'll run a little bit slower than what you were hoping for, but it'll work" He looks at her again and see that she's still frowning he puts his finger on her forehead and then down to her nose, leaving a grease mark over her face.

"Dad!" She screeches trying to slap his hand away and he starts to tickle her, making her giggle "Da-addy, s-s-stop it!"

"Oh the mighty Darcy has forfeit, oh my, what has the world come to!" He says loudly throwing his arms to the sky, being overly dramatic for the laugh that follows. Tony picks her up on his arms and when she has calmed down from laughing he looks seriously to her "Don't doubt yourself when you_ know_ you have done everything right" She looks down and speaks softly and he only catches the words _disappoint_ and _you_ coming from her young mouth, he puts his finger lightly on her chin making her look at him, her big blue soulful eyes lock on his brown ones "Nothing that you do will ever disappoint me, Darce" She nods and he grins at her, making her smile at him "Now, bring life to your robot" He says with a maniacal laugh afterwards making the little girl giggle at her dad's foolishness.

"I'm not Dr. Frankenstein, daddy!" He kisses her cheek and puts her on the floor so she can connect the last wires to turn the robot on, he looks at her little creation, it wasn't little it was taller than her and almost his height, it had a big claw at the end of it, the arm and the rest of it was still wires and metal, the only part that was covered was the wheels Darcy had insisted that it had. He thinks about how she mentioned Frankenstein and rolls his eyes. _I can't teach her advanced math but Pepper can let her read Frankenstein._

Tony hears the little take in of breath the little girl takes and with a flick of her finger she turns her robot on, the claws start to open and close, she picks the control they had done and puts it to walk, or better yet, to _slide_ on the floor.

"It works, pa!" She says excited he ruffles her hair, something which would make her huff at him but she just blinds him with her smile – completely forgetting about the grease on her face.

"Of course it does, Darce" He says and watches as she makes it pick stuff up and then put it back down, it was a little slower than he knows Darcy would have like it, sometimes it responded too slow to her command on the control and it would go straight to a wall, but his daughter didn't seem to mind, she'd just shake her head and put it to try again "What's it name?"

She tilts her head to the side and then smirks, a very reminiscent smirk of a Tony Stark "It's Dummy"

* * *

_12 years old_

It took him almost a year to convince Pepper to let Darcy skip grades, he knew he could have done without her consent, but it matter to him and to Darcy – after all his daughter considered Pepper her mother and it made sense to him to have her think that, the redhead had taken care of Darcy, had been there every time the little girl needed, and it was Pepper Darcy had first called after him, she had called her 'ma' when Pepper had been holding her and ever since Darcy had never stopped calling Pepper that – so, yes, Pepper's approval on Darcy skipping grades mattered.

He had agreed that Darcy should go to school, he had wanted her on a private school, but Darcy had liked the idea of going to a public one and meeting 'normal' kids, saying they'd be best suited for her than trust fund kids.

"_You do realize you are a trust fund kid, right?" He asks rolling his eyes._

_Darcy shrugs while shoving her food to a corner of the plate then to the other "I know, but I'm not like them, am I?" He frowns and locks his eyes on her, she keeps her eyes downcast and he can't immediately tell what is going on her head – she's doing it on purpose – but he can see the slight hunched shoulders and the down tilt of her lips._

"_Share, Darce" He says in his most parental tone and he can see the immediate effect, she crosses her arms in her front and looks the other way._

"_You don't share, so why should I?"_

"_Because I'm the grownup" He says and she huffs "Darcy…"_

_She looks at him and he sees something in her eyes that he had never wanted to see, a sad glint and Tony Stark wants that out of her eyes, he wants to fix whatever needs fixing so that she isn't sad anymore "If I went to one of those private schools they'd all want to know who's my father and mother and I can't tell them. We'll probably come up with a back story, but even so, I wouldn't be able to tell that _you_ are my father"_

_He can feel his eyes softening when she finishes speaking, he feels his heart warm at her words and knowing that she wanted everyone to know that he's her father, even through all his mistakes and not exactly role model actions. His arms opens and he doesn't have to say anything for his little girl to go sit on his lap and he buries her in his chest "I'm sorry for that Darce" He feels her nodding on his chest "I know that you understand our reasons for it, Pepper and I just want you to be able to do your stuff and live for now without the weight of my name on you"_

"_I like the weight of our name, Dad" She says quietly and he holds her tightly, he knows she doesn't mean that she likes the power that comes with it, but the story of all Starks, his story, his father, his grandfather and so on._

"_Then the truth is, I'm a selfish person"_

"_I know" She says before he can finish._

"_Hey – continuing I'm a selfish person and I wanted to keep you to myself" She laughs and he smiles knowing that for now he made the sadness leave her._

"_Thank you" She says_

"_Any time, kiddo"_

Just because Darcy had wanted her mother's approval on skipping grades, didn't mean she wasn't annoyed that she wouldn't graduate from university at the same age her father had done, she was a year behind him.

"Are you still annoyed?" Tony asks his daughter while looking at the engine of his car, he – like always – was going to make it run faster.

"Yes! I wanted to graduate from college at the same time you did!" She says and Tony smirks, happy that his daughter can't see the smirk, or else all hell would break loose.

"You can skip another grade" He says and it's true she can, but she wouldn't.

"Ma, doesn't want me to, even though I don't particularly like my class it would be nice to graduate with them"

"Pass me the screwdriver" He says and a few moments after he feels a tap on his arm he grabs the tool and continues to change the engine "Darce, just amuse me here, so you decided on what you are going to do on college?"

She shrugs, but he doesn't see "What do you think?"

"I don't want to guess" He says with an exasperated tone.

"Electrical Engineering, Dad, relax" She says with a laugh.

He releases a breath and smirks "Well, you can break my records" He says and looks over his shoulder and she smiles at him.

"I'll do my best with that" Darcy says then gets up and goes to the door which JARVIS opens for her before she even asks "Dad, you do know the amount of power you are putting on the engine is going to be _way_ above limit right?"

"Of course I know" He says with a mild shrug.

"Just wanted to check, I just hope the money going to pay the tickets don't leave from my trust"

"Like a few tickets would put a dent on the trust, kid" He says and Darcy laughs, but they understand each other like this, she doesn't need to say she worries about the amount of speed he'll be going, that he could injury himself and like always he tries to comfort her the best way he knows, making dry remarks, being sarcastic, making jokes and so on and the weirdest part is that it comforts her more than if he told her not to worry about it, nothing was going to happen, because the both geniuses know that something can always happen.

* * *

_19 years old_

_Darcy Stark had gone to MIT much like her father, she did break a few records, but most of them still belonged to the genius Tony Stark and that was fine with her, because her father never asked more than what she gave him, he was ecstatic when he got the news that his record was broken a few times by his one and only daughter – not that anyone knew, he did went to give her an award, but no one noticed._

_Pepper was always amazed when Darcy would hack on some of the most guarded files of Stark Industries, sometimes the redhead suspected that Tony was the one to tell Darcy to hack it, make her train her skills. Pepper can see Tony every time she looks at Darcy, the trademark smirk, the witty eyes, the color of her hair, the sarcastic and cunning mouth as well as the love for machines and knowledge._

_The redhead could never imagine how no one knew that Darcy Lewis, actually was Tony Stark's daughter, she was a copy of her own father. Pepper was extremely worried when Tony had decided to go and give the award for his own daughter, she thought that the time he stepped on the stage with his daughter their secret would be blown, but when no one came to her to ask if the Lewis genius was Tony's daughter she was baffled, which made both Darcy and Tony to mock her._

_The father and daughter knew that some people just couldn't see how much alike they were, be in personality or physical, Pepper could see because she knew, if someone was to really look at them with that little thought in mind they would see it and no amount of denying would help._

_There was only one thing that they both could never find middle ground, it was the fact that Tony trusted in Obadiah Stane too much. Darcy had met the man on one of the awards her father had gone give her, he said that Obadiah wanted to meet this student that Tony was willing to use his precious time on, Darcy knew what the bald man was thinking that she was one more conquest of her father, which in her opinion was disgusting._

_When Tony brought him to meet her, interrupting her conversation with the dean, she knew immediately not to trust him, he shook her hand and she tried her hardest to be polite and cordial with the man she knew her father liked so much, she could see in the way Tony kept stealing glances at her and smiling. Darcy noticed that he shook his head slightly knowing his mind was finally out of the gutter, everyone knew that Tony only went for completely legal girls not only would be awful and repulsive for her father to have a girlfriend of her age, something which he seemed to share with her._

_Darcy knows how much her father is a womanizer, she would have to be blind and deaf to not know about it, even though Pepper had tried her hardest to retard Darcy's knowledge over that little fact and the red headed woman did an amazing job at it, it was only on junior high that Darcy found out about it, she couldn't look at her father for a month, in Darcy's mind her father didn't have _those_ needs and when Pepper had the talk with her (not that she didn't already knew about it) it was another month until she could really look her father in the eye._

_That was why she was relieved when she had seen time and again her father dismissing girls that were too close to her age, she had even commented to Pepper one time._

"_Of course he does, sweetie. It's too close for comfort" Pepper had said with a small knowing smile._

"_What do you mean?" Darcy asks with a small frown, while handing to her mother a black dress and then red pumps._

"_Red shoes, really Darce?" Pepper asks and receives a smile and a nod, she puts the items her daughter gave her "I think a very clear image of a man of his age dating you, is very appealing to him" Pepper laughs lightly when understanding crosses Darcy's features, she gives a small twirl "How do I look?"_

"_Beautiful, mom" Darcy says with a smile, Pepper could wear anything that it would turn beautiful and would make any woman near the proximities to be jealous of the red head beauty "Have a nice date" Darcy says giving Pepper a kiss on the cheek, not that she liked the fact that her mother was going to a date and the person she would be dining with wasn't going to be Tony, the younger woman knows that sometime her parents will see how much they actually love each other, she just had to wait and see._

_Darcy just hoped that it didn't take all her college life for her parents to see each other in the right light. _

_It did. _

Darcy Stark couldn't believe in what her mother was telling her, she just couldn't. She stops in mid motion on the grocery store, keeping the milk in her hand neither giving it to lady to pass it through the machine or lifting from the kart.

"Darcy, sweetie, are you there?" Pepper's voice comes and Darcy can hear the sadness on her mother's tone, even though the other woman was trying to hide it from her, trying to be the strong and composed one.

"Dear?" The lady cashier says and Darcy drops out of her shock, she shakes her head gives the woman a random note, knowing that it would be much more than she had actually spent and leaves the grocery store without anything in her hands.

"I'll be home in twenty minutes tops, mom"

"Please, drive safe, sweetie" Peppers whispers in the telephone, knowing that when it came to Tony the young woman would do anything, much like her father would do the same for her. Right now that bothered Pepper, her daughter was getting in one of her father's car which its engine had been fully converted by the male Stark, so it was extremely fast and Pepper Potts hates when the two Starks are driving one of those cars, nothing and yet everything could happen on the road.

"I'll, Ma" She says putting the key on the engine and leaving the parking lot with a squeak on the tires, she only stops in the red signs and doesn't take her foot off the gas pedal.

"JARVIS, I want you to pinpoint my father's last location, where he was before he was kidnapped, the moment of it and the exact moment when you lost track of him"

"_Miss I'll have to hack on military satellites for the exact location of Mr. Stark"_

"I don't care; I know you won't leave any trails, just do it"

"_Right away, Miss_" He is quiet for awhile and Darcy concentrates of the road, she's glad she's used to JARVIS voice coming and going at any given time, or he would have made her crash the car "_It'll take ten hours to complete the task given_"

"Thank you" Even though she would prefer for it be faster, she knows JARVIS is doing what he can without getting caught, she knows it must probably mean federal prison if anyone finds out what she made the AI do.

Darcy saw the moment her father was taken, but after that he and the others had disappeared, there was nothing she and JARVIS could do and that was what made her even more annoyed, she _needs_ to find her father. Darcy however is making the AI keep an eye on that area; something is bound to happen to give them a clue about where Tony is.

Uncle Rhodey tells her that they are doing everything they can into finding her father, she can see it in his eyes every time he has a videoconference with her and Pepper that he is feeling as bad as they are, her mom can't stop crying, even if she tries to hide it from Darcy.

Darcy – she can't cry anymore, after the first day every tear that she could probably produce was used, so she tried to keep her mind elsewhere, she dove in on her father's shop, trying to finish some of his projects, starting new ones, but none of that made her forget the situation her father is in for more than five minutes.

She is grateful her mother is taking care of the company, if it had been left only in the hands of Obadiah Stane, Darcy would have said bye to the secret and demand that the company was passed to her, even if she didn't have an idea how to run it, Pepper would be there to help her and her family's business would be safe and sound.

She raises her hand up and Dummy gives her a torch and she rolls her eyes "No, I asked for the screw driver! I don't even know how you got torch out of that one" She says with a small smile in her lips, she knows that half the time the robot she built did everything backwards, but it was hers and Tony could never get rid of that no matter how many times it got under his skin.

"_Miss. Stark"_ JARVIS calls her and she looks up from her job "_The military have found your father, they are going to pick him up_" When he finishes talking, she can feel her face getting wet, but she doesn't care, she just wants her father back and as quickly as possible.

"Call mom, tell her to get here and also call Uncle Rhodey, I want to speak to him" She knows her voice if breaking but she doesn't care.

"_All communications have been disconnected, it is not possible to call Rhodey_" She sighs, but can't be too unhappy about it, she asks the AI for images of her father's pick up. He has bruises in his face, his skin is slightly red from all the sun he probably got to escape his hell hole, he seems thinner, but it is his eyes that make her put her hand over her mouth and silently cry, something in him had changed he had been scared – something she had never seen in him before. Darcy cleans her eyes with the end of her sleeve and notices something in his chest.

"JARVIS, what is that?" JARVIS says he doesn't knows because he can't do a scan on her father, her jaw tightens at the mere thought that something more than him getting kidnapped had happened, that something which was long term happened.

Darcy is livid when she can't go to meet her father at the airport, but she knows that it is the best for both of them, there will be too much press trying to get a glimpse of Tony and she would get in the middle of it, and then there would be half of the world at their heads.

That doesn't mean she doesn't make JARVIS track her father's every move, she was getting a little crazy, but she was thinking about putting a chip on him so that if something like that ever happened again she could make those bastards see what all the tech of Stark Industries could do, she shakes her head. "_I'm completely losing it_"

She gets annoyed that he goes to a press conference before getting home so she could crush him until she believes he is there. Darcy turns on the TV and sees her father telling everyone to sit down, he starts speaking then gets up, Darcy feels that her dad is about to do something which he shouldn't probably do without consulting with Pepper. He gets up and announces that Stark Industries will stop manufacturing weapons, her mouth drops, the reporters get up and ask questions, Stane is beside himself (thought he does hide it well), Rhodey is not sure of what to do, then Obadiah takes Tony from there. JARVIS tells her that they are still in the facilities of Stark Industries.

Darcy makes the AI call her mother; on the first ring Pepper gets it "Mom, is dad high?"

Pepper sighs "I don't think so, sorry sweetie, I have to go" Pepper says and hangs up. Darcy is left to look at the wall and think "_What happened to you, dad?_"

Is late afternoon when she hears the front door opening, she runs from the shop to go to the first level, not even waiting for JARVIS to tell her that it was Tony, she practically could feel that it was him, the moment she reaches the final stair, her father looks back and at her "Dad!" She basically whispers and runs to him, his arms are already extended to welcome her to the hug. She doesn't care that they almost topple over and go to the floor, she is just _so_ happy that her father is here hugging her with the same ferocity as she is.

"I'm home" He says and she knows her glasses will be _ and she can also feel that her tears are soaking his shirt and that there is something slightly cold under her cheek on her father's chest, but right now – none of it matters because Darcy got back her father.

"I'm implanting a chip on you so this stuff doesn't happen again" She says quietly to him, she hears him laugh and squeeze her a little harder.

"Only if I can do the same to you, Pepper never let me do it when I proposed the option" He says and she knows that it probably is not a lie, he kisses the top of her head but still doesn't let go of her. They are not typically huggers, but when time requires they are fierce huggers.

"Sure, dad, instead of matching tattoos we'll have matching chips, its way more awesome and more our style" He agrees with her with a chuckle, she knows that this hug probably broke all of their records, but right now she can't bring herself to end it, she can't even make her fingers relax their grip on his suit.

"I'll work on it, kid" Hearing him call her that, makes her tears start to fall again.

Tony Stark was home and Darcy couldn't be happier.

* * *

_21 years old_

Darcy groans and turns again in bed, some nights she just couldn't shut up her brain, it would always remind her the immediate danger her father seemed to get a kick on putting himself on. Sure, sure it was for the good of mankind and all that jazz, but the person in the armor isn't their dad, it's hers and she worries.

The brunette knew when he had come back that he was different; he himself had told her that, he had changed when he was put against his own creations and the only thing that saved him was the only thing he had created for people to get off of Stark Industries back over the environment, but it was the only thing that was capable of taking him out of the hell hole.

He told her about the armor and that the arc reactor in his chest was keeping him alive by preventing the shards from going into his heart. Later, after the Iron Man was created, he told her that he knew that he was doing the right thing.

"_After that _thing_ with Stane, I knew it was meant for me to become the _Iron Man_, Darce. I got the same feeling that I had when I first held you_" And until today she cursed him, he _knew_ that what he said would make her all girly and sappy, and she wouldn't be able to tell him that she would never talk to him again if he kept putting himself in danger. Something inside of her always reminded that she would never be able to tell him that, she saw how proud of himself he was and how he thinks that it would be something his father would approve of him, other than her – of course.

Okay and the Iron Man finally made her parents realize just how perfect they are for each other, so the little armor had a lot of pros but one big and very negative con. Like the incident on Monaco and her dad not telling her he was dying, something she wasn't so sure to put so quickly in the past, well her mother was behind her in that decision, yeah, omitting that he was dying to the two women in his life would certainly hang over his head a little while longer. So danger was a bleeding red con.

Darcy grabs her phone and dials her father after the fourth ring he picks up "Blood of my blood, it's late and it's lat_er_ where you are, what happened?" His voice is slightly muffled and dragged, she must have woken him up, which already makes her feel a little better knowing he wasn't saving the world at the moment.

"It's only an hour later" She points out and he mumbles something "I just wanted to…"

He interrupts her "Tell your dear father that you didn't know what you were doing when you decided to go to New Mexico to major in poly-sci?"

She rolls her eyes, it is not like she wasn't already an engineer, she was only getting another education "Dad, we've been over this, it will be good for me, know how to deal with people and stuff"

"You are already sounding like one of them" He says serious, but she can just envision his little smirk.

"Mom thinks is a great idea" She counters and knows that he won't say anything to that, because before he and her mother were an item he was already scared of telling the red head woman she was wrong, now he was petrified.

"Yeah, yeah" He says and she can practically see the pout and the wave of hand.

"Though I am doing science-y things now, there were six credits missing from my record and I can't graduate as early as I want without them, so I'm helping Jane Foster with some stuff"

He seemed more alert after that "The Jane Foster which everyone thinks is crazy for believing in the Einstein-Rosen Bridge?"

"They think she is crazy because she is hunting proof, but yeah, that's her, do you feel better now?" Darcy asks with a small smile.

"Knowing your brain won't get webs on it for fake science, then yes!" He says a little too emphatic "I always wanted to sponsor her, but she is all secrecy and what-not, pass her some tech without being obvious Darce"

Darcy laughs "I help her build some stuff, she was suspicious one time, she said it looked like something Tony Stark would build, it was a close one" Her father laughs, but she knows that there will be that smug look on his face, knowing that everything too brilliant always seemed like something he would build.

"_Is that Darcy?_" The girl in question hears her mother ask and she can only smile knowing that Pepper is there late at night, not that she wants any details but at least on her mother's new boyfriend she was quite happy with the choice. "Yeah, it's her, no I'm talking to her – hey – Darcy your horrible mother is stea-" Tony speaks until his voice drifts off, it sounds like something hit him, probably a pillow.

"Sweetie is everything alright?" Darcy hears her mother's voice and is reminded of how much she actually is missing her parents.

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep, wanted to check on you guys" Darcy explains, it had been two hectic weeks to the younger Stark, she is leaving with the brilliant scientist and had to get used to her and Dr. Erik Selvig, she even explained to Jane her situation and that she wouldn't be such a waste of space – though she doesn't know much about Jane's research she was a fast learner, and because of that she hadn't spoken to her parents.

"We are fine, Darce, we worry about you though" Pepper says and she hears her father "_I made the chip, when are we doing it?_" Darcy laughs and hears her mother telling him to be quiet and they start to argue, at the same time, someone knocks on her door, she tells her to come in and Jane has that glint in her eye.

"C'mon Darcy, something is happening" Darcy nods to the other woman, she gets Pepper attention on the phone again.

"I have to go, science-y stuff to be made, love you mom, tell dad I love him too"

"_You better love me, child!_" She laughs and rolls her eyes at him, even if he can't see it.

"What he means to say is that we love you too, sweetie"

And as Dr. Erik, Jane and Darcy embark on the van, the young Stark can't help but feel as if something is about to change her entire world, again.

* * *

Tony grips his arm rest a little tighter to keep him from doing something – which to him is instinctual and a necessity, because SHIELD is telling him that he can't, they have everything in control and he shouldn't worry, yeah like that is happening any time soon.

"Mr. Stark, everything _is_ under control, the situation has already been taken care of" Coulson says to him and he narrows his eyes to the other man.

"If there is a scratch on my daughter, Coulson" He warns and it is the first time Phil Coulson hears the cold voice with a promise of pain in the normally sarcastic man.

"I don't believe she is bruised, but we have made her sign papers so that she doesn't go commenting about what happened on the internet" Coulson says, trying to calm the male Stark.

"She isn't stupid, Coulson" Tony says, there is still an edge of something in his voice but better than it was half a minute ago, Phil knows the girl isn't stupid she is as smart as her father, the two of them combined could do amazing things, it's like having Howard and Tony work together, but better, from what he can see, the two remaining Stark's get along very well.

"I am sure, Mr. Coulson wasn't saying that Tony, he is merely saying it is procedure" Phil nods at Pepper, glad that at least some people in Stark Industries could keep a level mind. "I'd like to speak to our daughter, but we haven't been able to reach her phone" Pepper says and narrows her eyes slightly, demanding an explanation.

"Some of their things were taken so we could look into it" Before he can continue, Tony gets up and starts pacing in the room.

"You are telling me SHIELD snooped around my daughter's things?" Coulson can't see the face of the other man, but he knows it is not a pleased one.

"We needed to know what they knew, your daughter isn't happy about it either, she is still requesting her iPod" Coulson pinches the bridge of his nose; maybe having two Starks was more troublesome than it was worth it.

"You better give it back to her, she loves that thing as if is her baby and I modified it, so I can basically claim you are stealing technology belonging to Stark Industries and you don't want her also modified Taser to be experimented on you" Tony stops pacing and looks to the man sitting, Phil slowly nods, his eyes slightly widened by the sheer ferocity that one Tony Stark presents when he thinks his daughter is in the slightness unhappy, Coulson could only imagine what he would do if Darcy was hurt or threatened, something told the SHIELD agent he doesn't want to know.

Coulson gets up, cursing Fury in his mind for making him tell Tony what happened, not that he would ever admit it, not even under torture. "I'll be sure to give it personally to her, they'll be back to try and find the Einsten-Rosen Bridge your daughter has already said she will continue in the project" Tony nods, Coulson says goodbye to him and Pepper.

But before he opens the door he is stopped by Tony's voice "When did SHIELD found out that she is my daughter?"

"When you had gone missing" Phil tells him, omitting the part which SHIELD had been interested in the young woman who was breaking Stark's records, but they had never done a back ground check on her.

Phil goes after that, after all he has an iPod to give back to a certain brunette.

* * *

As Tony steps in the helicarrier he is already assessing everything he can, he starts speaking nonsense to keep people out of his intentions, he smirks when he sees an agent playing Galaga.

"That man is playing Galaga, he thought we wouldn't notice, but we did" He can practically feel the glares he earns, he puts his hand over his eye trying to understand how Fury can command it with just one useful eye, he asks Hill that and she answers him dryly that he turns, he shrugs and puts a little device, making JARVIS start to hack on every SHIELD file, if there is a menace coming it would certainly hit Darcy and Pepper and he can't have that.

He starts saying all about what he learned yesterday and he keeps himself from pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, until Dr. Bruce Banner starts speaking with him in science-y mode, he wants to sigh in relieve but refrains from doing so.

"Someone who speaks English" He says and he can feel the relief coming on those feel words "It is good to meet you Dr. Banner" Tony says as he shakes hands with the genius Dr. "Your work in anti-atomic collisions is unparallel and I'm also a fan of how you lose control and turn into a enormous enraged green monster" Tony can see the surprise on the Dr face and again he holds on to his smirk.

They continue speaking until he and Banner go to the lab; he knows something is wrong about SHIELD and the Tesseract and something tells him the good Dr is also thinking something along the lines, so when the Captain comes in telling him that he shouldn't have hacked on SHIELD's files he gets a little mad, but when understanding hits the other man's face he becomes a little calmer.

Half an hour later when Fury enters the lab, Tony is already reading everything about the Tesseract "What exactly is Phase 2?" He asks.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD using the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was going too slow for me" Captain America says to Tony.

As Fury tries to explain and bluntly lie, Tony gets up and shows the file where it shows that they were trying exactly that, using the Tesseract for forging weapons and soon enough like the team that they are not an argument starts. When Steve Rogers starts to get into Tony's face he knows it is a moment before he gets really annoyed, of course the good old Captain America needed to make that little snippet, making Stark not only annoyed but angry, the capsicle doesn't know for who he fights for, not him and not the world and Tony Stark has long stopped caring, but he isn't completely happy when someone who doesn't know him pretends to know everything about him.

There is no time to punch the living day lights of the Captain, a war has just begun.

* * *

Darcy and Jane stare at the destruction of New York City, she saw glimpses of the aliens but she didn't stay to watch, she and Jane were running since they ditched the SHIELD agents that were going to take them to some city, Darcy wasn't listening she was just trying to figure out what was happening while everyone around them kept telling the two women that nothing was wrong.

"Jane, what we got ourselves into?" Darcy hisses while trying to remain hidden in the dark alley, there were some passing by aliens and boy she didn't want them to find them there "Good thing I'm wearing contacts for this whole thing" She murmurs under her breath.

"Something really bad, is my guess" Jane whispers and shrinks even more on the floor, Darcy looks out trying to see if the coast is clear, when she deems it to be, she grabs Jane's hand and they dash out of there.

"I thought things would go a little bit easier after the hole 'machine-needs-to-kill-blond-hunk-because-brother-is-jealous thingy" Darcy says and winces when she hears a blast near them, she looks up and see her father throwing aliens on the buildings, making them explode.

Something was wrong, when her father ditched the other aliens and went the other way "What is going on?" Darcy asks herself, she and Jane stay rotted to the spot, both suddenly feeling like something was about to happen.

Her eyes continue skyward, hoping to get a glimpse of her father, her phone starts to ring she grabs it and puts in her ear she doesn't need to see the id-caller to know who it is "Dad?" She knows her voice is breaking, but it is only because she can already feel her heart breaking.

"Hi kid" He says and she knows that something is completely wrong "You are ok right?"

"Yes, the taser does wonders, pa" She says trying to boost his ego, he chuckles and she can hear the way he is struggling with something, she doesn't have to guess when she sees him with a missile, she gasps.

"So you see it?" He asks in a forced tone, she knows he is probably doing an immense force.

"Daddy what are you doing?" She asks and doesn't care she is freely crying and Jane is there to witness it, she can feel the other woman's eyes on her, Jane must have understand as she grabs Darcy's hand.

"Protecting you and Pep" He says and she knows he knows she is in New York, JARVIS probably had told him.

She sees him going up to where all the aliens were coming out of space, she understands what he is about to do, she takes a step forward as if it would help her get closer to him. "Pa?" She asks.

"Yeah, kid?" He asks, she hears the way he is trying to mask how much he is actually scared right now.

"I – _Call disconnected, all communications have failed_" She hears JARVIS voice telling her before she could even finish telling her father she loved him, Tony Stark disappeared through that hole and minutes after she sees the blue glow end and the hole starting to get smaller and smaller and no Tony Stark coming from it, she feels Jane's hand on her upper arm.

_Please, please, don't leave me and ma alone, pa. Please, come back. _She tightens her fist in her phone. As it continues to grow smaller she continues to plead in her head for him to come back, something red and gold catches her eyes and she _knows_, like he always did, he made her wish come true, only problem is that he isn't diminishing the speed he is falling.

She clicks on the side of her phone "JARVIS, what is going on with the armor?"

"_The armor has shut down, Miss Stark"_

Her breath hitches and also does Jane's but for completely different reasons. Suddenly she sees The Hulk grabbing her father and putting him in the bridge which seemed all Avengers were. "JARVIS, give me my father status"

"_I am sorry, Miss, I can't the armor is completely shut down" _What the AI made her pale if the armor was completely shut down then the arc reactor wasn't working "_Systems have been re-booted, scan on Tony Stark shows he doesn't have a serious condition_" She sighs relieved her crazy, heroic father is all right, she looks back at Jane and gives the young astrophysics a small smile.

"C'mon Jane, we are going to Stark Tower" They both start to walk towards the big building, she sees the Avengers going to the tower also. Fifteen minutes later she and Jane get inside the Tower first floor, she knows that JARVIS will say her father has visitors.

The AI doesn't let her down when two minutes later she hears the sound of the elevator and the doors opening, she sees a blond man then a red head woman getting out first, they both frown at her and Jane, she sees the woman raising her weapon to them, the man's body taut to attack, then Captain America and Dr. Banner, who also stop at their tracks ready for something to happen, the last two to come are Thor and Tony. Darcy gets a glimpse of her father and sees how tired and bruised he is, she doesn't think, she just moves.

"Jane!" Thor says with enthusiasm and he is moving forwards to go to his beloved.

Darcy doesn't pay attention to that, she sees her father take a few paces forward and shooting the two red head a dirty look, but the younger Stark doesn't care about that, she just launches on her father, he grabs her and holds her close.

"Stupid, that's what you are" She says and feels him pressing her closer to the broken armor "That totally tops the I-was-dying-and-chose-not-to-tell-you thing!" She complains and doesn't care for who is listening.

"You have to agree that this was less self destructive and more heroic, hm?" He says trying to comfort his daughter.

"It was equally stupid, pa!" She whines just the way she knows makes him roll his eyes at her "Mom is probably having a seizure and I-"

"I was worried too, kid" He says quietly to her.

"You have a kid?" Someone to their right asks surprised.

Darcy looks to the blond man, also known as Captain America "Shh, is a secret" Darcy says while putting her index finger in her lips, she gives him a wink then disentangles from her father and looks him in the eye, they smile at each other, the silent Stark conversation Pepper sometimes hates happening before the eyes of the Avengers, Tony hugs her one more time and kisses the top of her head "Okay" She says as if her father had said something out loud, which to her he did "Go do your super-hero stuff" She gives him a smile and looks back "C'mon Jane, I'll show you the lab, y'know the cool stuff" Jane's eyes sparkle but before she goes with Darcy she looks back to Thor they share a smile and then Jane goes to her friend, gives Tony a nod and they go to the elevators.

"Don't cause too much destruction!" He says when they get in the elevator, he sees the Stark smirk etched on his daughter's face and strangely he is proud of it.

"You are one to talk" She says and the door of the elevator cut Tony any opportunity of answering her.

"Yep, she is totally your daughter" Hawkeye says a little dumbfounded at seeing the small copy of Tony Stark in the small woman, he sees the smug look on the older Stark, he shrugs and starts walking out of the building being followed by the rest of the Avengers, who he knows are only pondering in asking him all about it.

Tony Stark lets the sense of tranquility to wash over him, because he knows that both Darcy and Pepper are alright and safe, he can only hope right now that it will stay like this for a while.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi there! Yes, I know, it took longer than what I had planned, but somewhere in the beginning I had lost inspiration and had a bit of writer's block it was horrible, so I am sorry. I hope you liked it… somehow I think I am not completely done with this story, I don't know what I want to do with it, though. Who is excited for Iron Man 3? I know I am, maybe seeing the movie will make me know what to do next.

I tried my best to keep faithful to the movies, if there are mistakes, I'm sorry, sometimes I forget some details… like always, if you find a mistake please let me know so I can correct it, it is much appreciated! Oh and for those of you who like Harry Potter I'm writing a multi-chap fanfiction, is on my profile if you want to take a look :D

Thank you for whoever reads this, reviews or favorites it, I love to see that my work is appreciated. Sorry for the big A/N.

See ya around! :)


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